Logical Love
by SanityDeprived
Summary: Shikamaru and Temari have been through so much together, know so much about each other but they've never actually known what goes on inside the others brilliant mind. They set out on another mundane mission, but this time, is it possible someone speaks their mind? ShikaTema 3 Oneshot. Read and Review :)


Suna Ha - Sand Leaves

Temari stood at the gates to The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Her eyes traced the swirled pattern of the large leaf as she leaned on her tessen, her giant iron fan. She tapped her foot impatiently and this unnerved her.  
She was analytic by nature and this usually meant she took her time with things. She was easily irritable, but this often egged her to finish things faster. This time all she had to do was wait, she wasn't against the clock, this shouldn't have bothered her. Patience was a virtue, and she reminded herself constantly that she needed to master it. Especially now that she was the Ambassador for Sunagakure.

She closed her eyes and went over the mission details.  
She had to deliver some confidential political documents to a nearby village. Unfortunately the Village Hidden in the Sand wasn't on as good terms with them as Konoha was. So, the Kazekage suggested that Hidden Leaf Shinobi accompany her. Except for the value of the documents in the satchel over her chest, this mission by all other standards was a C ranked one. It really was quite insulting that she had to be "accompanied". But as years had passed, Temari had learnt that her baby brother, Gaara the Kazekage, didn't suggest something unless he absolutely had to.

Her mild sensory type powers alerted her before the light footsteps did. She opened her eyes to see Nara Shikamaru, standing with his hands in his pockets and his head turned up to look at the clouds. She could almost hear him say 'what a drag' like that day, so many years ago, when Asuma had called her after the chunin exams to personally congratulate her on her prowess.  
Shikamaru had changed in so many ways and yet was the same in so many ways.

He still had the same inclination towards a lazy evening as before but his demeanor and attitude when he was assigned a mission was far more serious.  
"Who else are we waiting for?" Temari asked.  
"No one. Deliver the documents to the Sekitan Village, right?"  
"Right"  
"What a drag"  
There it was. "Well we better be on our way"

Shikamaru waved to the guard positioned overhead and the two of them set out together. It would be maybe a half days walk or less, that too bothered Temari a little now.

It was a hot day and Temari and her tessen cast long shadows. Shikamaru walked in them for shade. He wasn't unaffected by the heat like she was.  
He tried not to lag too far behind though. He was sure any minute now she'd turn and tell him to catch up and the memory of her tone motivating him to man up during the Fourth Great Ninja War was uncomfortably clear in his mind.  
He'd worked with hot heads his whole life, people always telling him to start doing things- like Ino and his mother. Temari wasn't exactly the same.  
It still bothered him when she lectured, and he still wish he could just sit around playing shogi or hanging out with Choji. But what Temari said usually stuck. He often wondered if she used some kind of jutsu to keep him from blocking out her voice.

After his father had passed, Shikamaru was promoted to chief strategist for the Konoha and was the first ever Chunin to have become so. Circumstances compelled him to work with Temari often. They'd grown so familiar with each other that sometimes the hourglass on her headband was the only thing that reminded him that he didn't know her all his life.

'Are you sure we're going the right way?' Shikamaru wanted to ask as they leaped from tree to tree now. Everything seemed like he'd seen it before, recently.  
"Are we going the right way?" Temari asked aloud. Shikamaru wondered how she knew what he was thinking.

Temari never asked Shikamaru too many questions, she was just as capable as he was.  
"Stop" He held his hand up.

Temari clutched her satchel and looked at Shikamaru. They nodded mutually. This was genjutsu.  
How could they have let this happen? Temaris face was stern.  
The best thing to do when caught in a genjutsu was to let the attacker make the first move, otherwise anything you do could end up hurting you and your comrades.

The whistling of three kunai came from behind Shikamarus ear. Temaris fan was spread out in a second. The gust of wind was so strong it blew them back in the direction they came from. As the paper bombs attached to the kunai exploded in the distance, she had a ghost of a smile.  
But not for too long. Somehow, without her willing it her face became expressionless and her legs shuffled to the side. Three more kunai whizzed past where she had been standing moments ago. As she regained control of herself, she looked at Shikamaru. The shadow possession jutsu he'd just used was still retreating into his original shadow.

One attack from the left, one from behind. The attacked was moving anticlockwise around them. Next would be the right. They didn't even have to communicate, he knew she understood when he looked at her.  
They moved to stand back to back. The proximity made her flush at an inapt time.  
They were wrong, it came from above. They jumped apart just in time.  
Temari was pissed now. She wasn't going to play this game. She moved to Shikamaru and began her jutsu. Razor sharp arcs of wind formed spheres around them and moved outwards. The attacker had to be close enough to see them, yet far enough not to get caught in the blast radius. It was possible that there was more than one attacker but judging by the vegetation around them and the time between two consecutive attacks, it was most probable that the attacker was a single person.  
Shikamaru could identify the minute details of broken stems from where the attacker had stood to launch himself over them. There was a gasp from a few yards in front of them. Temaris jutsu had cut the attacker. Quicker than the blink of an eye, Shikamaru sent his jutsu out to the sound.  
There were screams as Shikamarus shaddow stitching jutsu did its work.

Everything around them slowly faded to reality. Temari and Shikamaru found themselves standing on the banks of a small stream. A few yards away, a limp body fell to the floor. It was hardly considered a fight. The two of them made an almost unbeatable team.  
They didn't worry about further attackers, one had to be insane to be willing to take on the two of them after watching them just destroy their opponent in a matter of seconds.

They knew who the attacker was. Someone employed by the Sekitan village that ensured no peace between Sunagakure and the village. Rookie.  
They kept on walking.

Temaris count was eighteen. Shikamaru had saved her life eighteen times now. She'd only saved his twelve times though. She looked at him as they continued walking, trying to mask her admiration as best as she could.  
As the day wore out, she recommended they sit down for a while. Shikamaru couldn't have asked for anything more in his life.  
Down by a tree in the shade, they both realized they couldn't have been more than a half hours walk from the Sekitan village. After that, she'd go back to being the Kazekages bodyguard and he'd go back to Konoha.

Silently, they sat. Neither of them wanted to part ways just yet.  
For someone so smart, he sure was emotionally dense, Temari thought.

Shikamaru eyed the clouds enviously as they drifted above him. His legs were stretched out before him and he leaned on his hands. This posture didn't provide the most shade but it allowed him to discretely look at Temari with her eyes closed, deep in thought.  
Shikamaru found that most calculated people show signs of analysis. He often put his fingers of both hands tip to tip to form an 'O' at his sternum, similarly Temaris eyebrows furrowed.  
She was thinking about something. Shikamaru liked that, she was always thinking, like he was. She was one of the very few people with whom he could hold an actual conversation.  
True, he'd technically beaten her at the chunin exams and she wasn't all that great at shogi or Go. But she was intelligent and he valued that. If it came to reading people, she had it down.

It was funny, as he thought about this, two clouds overhead floated closer. Their pure cottony white blocked out the cerulean and gold behind them.  
Hmm.  
He heard Temari get up beside him, it was time to go. He'd rather stay there for a while longer.

He closed his eyes for a second and they shot back open to find Temaris face where the clouds used to be and her lips on his. Unwittingly he found himself kissing back. Of all the things they'd seen and been through together, this was the first one that didn't make any sense. No logic, no reasoning. It happened because...well simply because.

He thought of the day dream he had when he fought her for the first time. A wife, then children- a girl then a boy. Retirement. It seemed almost as though, he was unconsciously telling himself that he'd find those things with that very girl.

With great difficulty, she pulled back and smiled. Really smiled. Not those half ones that she and Kankuro practiced when they were kids.  
He smiled too, confused. He was still trying to figure out why what happened, happened. Why did he feel this way?  
She turned around and began walking. It was about time he knew.

"Why do we have to go already?"  
Temaris smile got wider "because I have to go my way and you yours soon"  
"What a drag" he said as he stood up and followed her.


End file.
